From the National Law Journal:
I teach law students how to conduct legal research. The most effective way to do this is to provide hands-on training, but one of the most important tools, PACER, is off limits.
PACER, which stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, is profitably managed by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and it contains all manner of recent federal court filings, from complaints to opinions.
Even though PACER is operated by the U.S. government, and even though the records it contains are public records, most law school libraries simply cannot afford to give their students and faculty direct access to PACER. Why? Because using PACER can get expensive, and this makes PACER’s “public access” debatable.